Syracuse AD Daryl Gross: Challenging grant of rights in court was moot point among ACC members

"The fact is everyone signed it, everyone reviewed and researched it and everybody had the opportunity to not sign it." -- Syracuse AD Daryl Gross

Syracuse Athletic Director Daryl Gross (left) said the perception of conferences poaching schools from the ACC prompted the decision to strike a new grant of media rights agreement.Dick Blume | dblume@syracuse.com

The agreement, which runs through 2027 and was signed by all 15 future member schools, is a huge step toward ensuring Syracuse's new conference remains intact moving forward.

Under the deal, any school that decides to bolt for another conference during the length of the contract surrenders its media rights and revenue for all home games to the ACC.

Couple this with an exit fee that is around $50 million, and that is an expensive tradeoff for a new home.

"We've been talking about this for a long time," Gross said.

Gross confirmed that many conference leaders held a perpetuating fear that the ACC could continue to be poached by other conferences looking to add schools. But he was not aware of any one action or overture that occurred that would have launched discussions regarding the grant of rights agreement.

Maryland is leaving for the Big Ten in 2014, along with Rutgers, and other ACC schools have been considered targets for speculated expansion in the Big Ten and SEC.

"I don't see major shifting going around," Gross said. "These types of deficiencies that occur are just natural order and should occur if it's feasible."

While the deal cools realignment talk, it remains to be seen if the agreement can be successfully challenged in court if a school is gung ho on leaving.

Gross said the conference members were unified when the proposal was presented to them.

"Everyone that's been around the table, it's really a moot point," Gross said about future litigation. "The fact is everyone signed it, everyone reviewed and researched it and everybody had the opportunity to not sign it.